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Read on to discover the best piano concertos by female composers, as chosen by pianist Alexandra Dariescu…<\/strong><\/p> Nadia Boulanger was one of the most influential composers of all time. Not only did she teach Aaron Copland<\/a><\/strong>, Quincy Jones, Daniel Barenboim<\/a><\/strong> and Dinu Lipatti<\/a><\/strong>, but she was also the first woman to conduct the New York Philharmonic<\/a><\/strong> and Boston Symphony orchestras. So it\u2019s astonishing that her Fantaisie Vari\u00e9e<\/em> did not have its US premiere until 2022, when I performed it with the Houston Symphony. It\u2019s full of original harmonies, with a beautiful middle theme that makes you want to hug the world. And the ending is so triumphant, building to a massive climax.<\/p> Until recently, nobody knew about the Russian pianist and composer Leokadiya Kashperova<\/a><\/strong>, but she was actually Stravinsky<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s piano teacher. Composed in 1900, this is the only concerto<\/a><\/strong> she ever wrote: it\u2019s dark, sombre, romantic and full\u00a0of tunes in the same vein as Rachmaninov<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Second Piano Concerto<\/a><\/strong>, written in the same year. Kashperova had huge hands, so the span is enormous \u2013 as if written for male hands, not female ones \u2013 and there\u2019s a singing quality to the music, particularly in the second movement, which showcases the beauty of tone for which Kashperova was well-known.<\/p> Born into a Hungarian-Croatian noble family, Dora Peja\u010devi\u0107 was the first Croatian composer to write both a symphony and a piano concerto. But I want to focus on her Phantasie concertante<\/em>: a piece full of vibrant energy and rich colour. Unlike the concerto, it\u2019s very free in structure, with a massive cadenza towards the end which, admittedly, is a bit disproportionate for the piece. I love Peja\u010devi\u0107\u2019s sense of spontaneity and the way she oscillates between late-Romanticism and Impressionism, weaving in a lot of striking Slavic influences.<\/p> Clara Schumann<\/a><\/strong> started writing the third movement of this concerto when she was 14 as a konzertsatz <\/em>(concert piece). By 16 she had added another two movements, the most extraordinary of which is the Romanze<\/em>. It starts with three minutes of piano<\/a><\/strong> solo, like a nocturne. Then the cello comes in, the sky opens, and there\u2019s a beautiful love duet for piano and cello<\/a><\/strong>. That Clara had the emotional maturity to write this at such a young age is astonishing. Had she not been a woman, I believe this would have been placed alongside the greatest Romantic concertos.<\/p>Nadia Boulanger – Fantaisie Vari\u00e9e\u00a0<\/h2>
Leokadiya Kashperova – Piano Concerto<\/h2>
Dora Peja\u010devi\u0107 \u2013 Phantasie concertante<\/em><\/h2>
Clara Schumann – Piano Concerto in A minor <\/h2>